de-access

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is a residential district of Montreal located to the west of downtown; in 2001 it had a population of 30,102. The name is French for "Our Lady of Grace."

This district, which is known as NDG to locals, is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The district of NDG is bounded on the east by the border with Westmount, the south by the Falaise Saint-Jacques, the west by Kensington Avenue and the north by Cote-Saint-Luc Road, although many local definitions of NDG include the district of Loyola as well, extending west to the border with Montreal West.

The eastern part of N.D.G., clustered around the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce parish church, has always been a traditionally francophone neighbourhood. It was bisected by the Decarie Expressway in the 1960s. The central and western parts were, and for the most part still are, traditionally home to middle-class and working-classanglophones with a significant lower-class population (though it has been on the decline in recent years). The majority of residents in this district speak English in their homes with only 32% speaking French. There is also a sizeable Afro-Canadian and immigrant community mostly around the parts of the district north of Fielding Avenue.

Many of the houses are quite old, having been built upwards of 70 years ago. The neighbourhood is known for its tree-lined streets, brick houses, and closely cropped duplexes. There are also many apartment buildings, with many of the district's public housing units located on the historically crime-ridden Walkley Avenue. Benny Farm was also a huge public housing project in central NDG built for Second World War veterans and single-parent families, but was demolished and replaced with condominiums after 2002.

Nevertheless, times are changing as property prices throughout the other parts of the district have grown and it is becoming an increasingly popular place to live for middle-class English-speaking Montrealers.

The major commercial streets are Monkland Avenue and Sherbrooke Street West. Monkland Village comprises a cluster of businesses on the eastern part of Monkland Avenue that was revitalized in the 1990s. Villa Mariametro station is located here, as well as Vendôme Metro Station near the borough's southeastern end. Also, city buses leaving Snowdon Metro provide access to the northern and western parts of the district.